Monday, October 5, 2009

The Roads of My Father


The General had a rare and unique “step back in time” experience this weekend while riding the Lost Coast Dual Sport Ride in NW California. As some of my followers know, I was born and raised in Cutten, a small community on the outskirts of Eureka.
*Click on photo for larger view

After WW2, my dad worked in the logging industry from 1950-1961 and then was hired as a foreman for Burman Construction Company. As a kid (aka The Cuttenkid), I remember driving on many of Humboldt County’s roads with my dad. Back in those days, the timber industry was going strong and many small communities had vibrant populations, grocery stores, and gas stations. Today they are mostly ghost towns.

In the early 1970s, The General worked at a lumber mill in Blue Lake that was eventually put out of business by the establishment of Redwood National Park. The sorter crew that I worked on actually set a mill record of pulling/sorting 220,000 board feet of lumber in an eight hour shift.

Seeing this small “logging museum” along one of the back roads in the Fort Seward area brought back some fond memories of driving on those same roads with my dad or handing him up a sandwich when he was running the dozer.

Thanks North Bay Motorcycle Club for the great ride and for allowing me to once again experience the backcountry roads of Humboldt County.

NBMC
http://www.northbaymc.org/content.aspx?page_id=9&club_id=709509
PS - My dad passed away in 1998



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